Currently, the mandatory life insurance payout for each Sherpa killed while working for for-profit expeditions on the mountain is $11,000. One person quoted in the article who is raising charity funds said that amount should be raised to $22,000, stating, “It’s a really complicated situation.”

I don’t think it’s so complicated.

The Everest expeditions are for-profit recreational ventures run for high-income people from other countries. Each Sherpa guide earns about $5,000 per year. Once they’ve been killed by their job, their families lose that $5,000 per year.

Let’s assume, to make up for that ridiculous disregard of a dad’s other economic value to the family as well as the incalculable emotional loss, that each guide would have a 30 year work-earnings span. The insurance payout when the is killed on the mountain should be at least $150,000. If the recreational ventures that operate on Everest can’t afford to provide proper minimal life insurance for the human beings they employ, they should shut down.

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